This invention has to do with patient isolation rooms, and more particularly, is concerned with improvements in known patient isolation rooms whereby the patient is maintained isolated from room air beyond the patient locus so that the patient is not exposed to potentially bacteria- and/or virus-contaminated air carried by hospital personnel or others co-present in or about the room with the patient. Apparatus is provided to achieve horizontal, unidirectional, laminar air stream flow of uniform velocity throughout its cross-section linearly across the patient locus, whereby cross-streams such as may be present in prior known rooms, which cross-streams may carry bacteria- and/or virus-contaminated air across the patient locus, are obviated.
For effective care of patients undergoing physically debilitating treatments such as chemotherapy to ameliorate cancerous conditions, and others especially susceptible to infection, such as burn victims, it is essential to isolate the patient as much as possible from sources of infection. Conversely, it is desirable to protect hospital personnel from infectious patient conditions. For these purposes, there have been developed "isolation rooms" which are spaces within the hospital having controlled air sources and which generally are operated under a positive pressure to exclude contamination to the maximum degree. Some of these rooms provide accordian folding walls equipped with viewer isolating viewports and associated hand glove ports for care of the patient while providing nearly total isolation from infection. State of the art viewports, however, are curved at critical areas, giving an optically distorted view of the patient. This invention provides a solution to this problem. Further, the present invention relates to virustatic control for patient isolation rooms.